Computer problems ground American Airlines flights

WASHINGTON – American Airlines says their systems have been fully restored but passengers should expect continued flight delays and cancellations for the rest of the day.

Travelers already at the airport are encouraged to rebook. Passengers scheduled to fly later today are encouraged to change their flight. They will not be charged for changing their reservation, the airline says.

In a statement, the airline stressed that its computer outage was not related to the bombings in Boston.

EARLIER: Tuesday – 4/16/2013, 4:01pm ET

WASHINGTON – American Airlines flights were grounded Tuesday because of problems with the carrier’s reservation computer system.

The FAA grounded the flights nationwide including flights out of Dulles International Airport.

Planes were expected to remain on the ground until at least 4 p.m. and American said it would provide an update later this afternoon.

Spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said that the carrier’s network system was experiencing intermittent outages and the airline was working to resolve the problem.

The airline pledged to provide fliers with full refunds if they were unable to reschedule their flight. Customers will not be charged for changing their flight.

“However, we are unable to make changes to current travel plans until we have resolved this issue,” the airline said in a statement.